ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Some Orange County commissioners are warning of a looming – and expensive – environmental disaster after they were hit with another setback in their quest to buy out a troubled water system.
The county has been exploring a takeover of Pluris, which serves approximately 1,800 homes in the Wedgefield area. Pluris customers pay the highest rates in Central Florida despite their water quality not being up to Orange County’s standard.
However, their request for $7.5 million in Florida’s budget was vetoed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who instead focused on maximizing the state’s rainy day funds as he slashed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of proposals.
“The system is listed as basically an imminent catastrophe,” Commissioner Kelly Semrad said. “If we don’t fix it, it will break, and if it breaks, it’s going to put dump raw sewage into a community, which is a public health safety issue, as well as it’s going to discharge water into our St John’s Basin and the St Johns River, which is a drinking source.”
Semrad said she would return to the community to discuss their options. The county could buy the system and upgrade it, but the homeowners would pay approximately $100,000 apiece in assessments, which would break many families’ budgets.
She mentioned the possibility that The Florida Governmental Utility Authority buy, upgrade and maintain the system instead.
She also said she plans to push for the funding next year.
“In the grand scheme of a state budget, seven and a half million dollars to prevent environmental catastrophe and to ensure that people have access to clean and affordable water is a drop in the bucket,” she explained. “It’s really disappointing.”
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